


Into the arms of ghosts

by dasakuryo



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasakuryo/pseuds/dasakuryo
Summary: "What's wrong, my child?"Saw Gerrera asks the little girl to get her to open up. But Jyn sits still, and doesn't answer. Saw's not going to give up, after all, he made a promise to Lyra Erso.





	

"What's wrong, my child?"

Saw's voice is dry, and somehow manages to reverberate into the small space between the canyon walls. The girl doesn't answer. Her braids sway sideways on her back as she hunches down and buries her face in her folded arms.

Saw notices the tension in the kid's shoulders; he takes a deep breath —or as deep as he can nowadays. The girl hasn't spoken a word to him, not even once while they made their journey through hyperspace. She's been silent for almost an entire day now—

Saw understands. He knows how the blow of losing someone close to feels like. Numbing, breath-taking, puzzling, hard to swallow, hard to come to terms with too. He gathers he can't fully grasp her grief, though —after all, it wasn't his mother whom he'd lost all those years ago, but his sister. He also knows that, eventually, she'll need to open up and process that grief—

Perhaps, today will not be the day.

With some difficulty and some heavy breaths, Saw lowers down and sits on the nearest rock. Jyn doesn't even shift in her spot, she's now at arm's length before him. Saw lifts his hand, away from the cane and towards the girl, but stops short before squeezing her shoulder. He lowers his hand back to the staff.

Jyn's arms are wrapped around herself now, small fingers practically digging into her tiny forearms. Saw doesn't move, he knows that he can run the risk of scaring Jyn. The little girl seems to be hugging closer something —someone— that's no longer there to hold close, nor cling to, any more. There's a light almost imperceptible tremble to her body, her fingers seem to poke harder on her arms as she makes herself smaller.

To Saw's eyes it looks a lot as if she were trying to shield herself from the world. His eyes narrow and he lets out a deep sigh. The sight pains him, his thoughts go out to Lyra. His calloused fingers wrap tightly around the wood; the tension builds up quickly in his jaw, muscles clenching into knots at remembering the scene that welcomed him, the anger boiling in his mind at the sight of such destruction. He also remembers the rush of worry when the footprints' puddles were leading towards the cave—

Jyn cranes her neck and looks up to the patch of sky in between the two walls, or so Saw thinks—

"Mama will like it here," she seems to whisper to herself, her voice tiny. Saw doesn't have the heart to correct her. Not today. Not yet. He makes a soft, melodic droning sound in the back of his throat. The tension knotted in her shoulders seems to melt at that. Jyn hands release her arms and move to rest on the rock she's sitting on. After a moment, her fingers twitch and seem to press on the hard sandstone beneath.

"The rocks change colours," she mutters, pointing at the opposite wall, where a succession of rock beds changed from soft greens, to deep reds, to soft yellows and back at reds again, "mama likes to write their stories."

A smile creeps into Saw's battered face, lips curling to the point he gives a toothy smile, "really?" he asks, amused at hearing Jyn talk about her mother's work with her childhood simplicity.

Jyn doesn't turn, but nods enthusiastically, gaze still fixed on the rocks on the opposite side of the canyon.

"Yes. She says you have to learn to look," a pause, her hand spread on the sandstone surface, "and read the rocks... Mama says that nature," there's an odd acute glide on the way she struggles with the last syllable, "doesn't tell stories with words," her voice is grave, low, now.

"You helped mama, didn't you," Saw says, carefully, trying to slide the truth as cautiously as he can. It's too soon, and she's too young, to be deliberately straightforward. Jyn's just lost her family, the world of peace and happiness she knew has been shattered and the shards lie scattered at her feet.

And Saw made a promise to take care of this girl. Saw made a promise that he will protect Jyn.

"Yes," the little girl answers in an equally low, though tiny, voice, and turns around to face him, "I helped mama get semples," another pause, she clicks her tongue, "samples," she corrects herself.

Another smile, warmer this time, plays across Saw's face before he says, "why don't you tell Ezhil to help you with that?"

Jyn frowns, somehow managing to stare at him with wide eyes, her nose wrinkling.

Saw tilts his head in a brief nod, "then you can tell me what you've found out— tell me the story, perhaps?"

Her face lits up, and she's off and inside looking for the teen in the blink of an eye.

Let this be how she keeps Lyra close, let this be how she can deal with grief for now.

There will be plenty of time for her to grieve and cry later. There will be plenty of time for Saw to teach her how to stand her ground, to defend herself from harm. Let Jyn hold, if only for a brief, fleeting moment longer until night comes, the happy memories of her mother close—

And through her teachings, feel her mother —keep her mother— alive.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Nobody can't convince me that Lyra didn't teach Jyn geology related stuff (I have a soft spot for that scientific!jyn that could never be). Nobody can't convince me that Saw wasn't an important father figure to Jyn -albeit everything that happened later, if not, why would she have felt so heartbroken about Saw's abandoning her? Either way, hope you've enjoyed the story. Feedback is always appreciated! :)


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